Long Live (Marauders:Year One)
by Voidshade
Summary: It's James Potter's first year at Hogwarts and things are going great! He's got wonderful friends, fun classes and Lily Evans is totally in love with him. Ok, so the last one is a lie, but one day she'll like him! He's charming, funny and extremely talented. Plus, with friends like his, what could go wrong? (Series telling the story of the Marauders during their time at Hogwarts.)
1. Chapter 1

When James Potter stepped onto Platform 9 and ¾, it was like the sun had risen twice that day. For there was this light, this bright glowing light that had reflected off the shiny black surface of the train and into his dark-rimmed glasses, causing them to flare up and for this brilliant golden light to cover his hazel eyes. Though it was rather cliché, and very uncharacteristic of him, he couldn't help but have a thought. _This must be a good omen._

Of course, the light passed in an instant and he blinked a few times to get his eyes to adjust. He was practically familiar with the station, having pleaded with his father on various occasions to describe the platform in excruciating detail. In fact, he had pleaded with his father to tell stories of everything at Hogwarts in excruciating detail- especially in the past year, where the wait had become unbearable. James had wanted to know everything about the school; the sort of food that was cooked, where he was to sit on the train, which order the house tables were placed in. _"He won't be able to enjoy it for himself"_ his mother had teased one rainy afternoon a few months before, as the three sat around their kitchen table, drinking hot chocolate and talking about which house he was to placed in. James couldn't help it, however. He was just dying to get to Hogwarts.

And there he was, standing on the platform, just a few minutes away from his first train ride. He could hardly believe it himself, the giddy feeling hadn't quite worn off yet and his eyes were round with aw. In a few moments, he would step onto the train and set off towards Hogwarts. Today, he was going to make friends he may keep for the next seven years. Today, he was going to be able to laugh himself silly, to walk the corridors of Hogwarts, to look up at the ceiling of the Great Hall. Tonight, _tonight_ , he was to be sorted.

Wow.

"Almost exactly how I remember it." a voice came from James' left side, his father, who had joined him on the platform. He smiled warmly at his son, his green eyes twinkling as he took in the awe on the boy's face. His mother stood by his other side, her brown hair tucked into a neat bun.

"Oh James, fix your hair!" she scolded, though it was obvious her heart wasn't into it. Like her husband, she was gazing fondly at her son. James hardly heard her, he was too busy taking it all in.

"Come here." she sighed, bending down to try to flatten his bird's nest of a head- to no avail. "You want to look good in front of your teachers, don't you?" Mrs Potter smiled. James rolled his eyes at her comment, as if it was obvious that that wasn't going to happen.

"Why should I give them false hope?" he gave them a gap-toothed grin. Mrs Potter simply sighed and went back to fixing his hair. Mr Potter, however, leaned down and gave James a stern gaze.

"Promise me you won't get into too much trouble, James?" he said. "I don't want to have to send a Howler."

James rolled his eyes once again. "I'm not sure I can keep _that_ promise, but I'll try." he smiled mischievously. "I can't believe it!" he added, looking out at the scene around him. Students milled around, chattering about their summers, saying goodbyes to their parents and promising to keep in touch. That reminded James…

"You'll send Calliope, right?" he asked, mentioning the family owl. James was only to have a pet when he proved he was responsible enough to take care of one, his parents weren't really too sure about that one yet. However, Mr and Mrs Potter had agreed to let James take joint ownership of their owl, Calliope, a small, sleek, grey thing. As much as he didn't like to admit it, James was rather fond of the she-owl and his parents knew that she would be the only way to force him to stay in constant touch.

"Yes, with a letter and everything. You must keep in touch, James." His mother stopped trying at her pointless task of combing his hair. Just at that moment, a horn sounded, signalling for all students to board the train. They were leaving.

"Be good! Don't you go getting into any trouble, you – oh and don't forget to say hello to Harriett's son! I'm so proud of you James!" his mother called after him as he hopped onto the train and peered out one of the windows. She and his father stood at the end of the platform, smiling and furiously waving as the train began to move. Slowly but steadily it began to pick up speed, rushing forwards until the platform and his parents were merely pinpricks into the distance.

This was it. He was going to Hogwarts.

Safely away from his parents, James ran his fingers through his hair, causing the already scruffy black hair to appear even more so. He didn't have his bags anymore, his father had hauled it off to wherever the luggage went, so he was empty handed as he wandered down the train- staring at the students in compartments as he went. A gaggle of third year Hufflepuff girls giggled loudly as he passed them, and a couple prefects smiled at him warmly. For a split second he felt a little lonely, perhaps a little lost. However, it passed almost as soon as it came. _Don't be stupid, James_ , he thought, _you'll make friends soon enough, surely._

Eventually, having made his way down at least half a carriage, he sat down in an empty compartment. Outside the window, countryside was passing by at an incredible speed- fields of corn and rolling hills sparkling under the slightly overcast September sky. A warmth filled James as he gazed outside, a bubbling excitement at the years to come. This was it. The start of his adventure.

"Hey." a voice came from James' left and he snapped around to glance at whoever it was who made the noise. A boy stood in the doorway to his compartment, a tall boy with a head of dark, curly hair. He had a youthful and handsome face, olive skin and piercing grey eyes. There was something about him the James quite liked, and he smiled at he met the boy's eyes. "You don't mind if I join you, right?" he asked. He had a strange voice, as if he was brought up to speak in a posh accent, yet was trying to hide it. However, his smile was warm and fully and James nodded right away.

"Of course!" he said, nodding at the empty seat across from him which the boy gratefully took. "I'm James Potter, by the way." James held out his hand.

"Sirius Black." the boy smiled back at him and shook James' outstretched hand. James felt his smile fade a little. The Black family -probably the one this boy was from- was notorious for being one of the many pure-blooded families who believed in everyone being underneath their aristocracy. Almost every member had been a Slytherin, and James wasn't sure how to feel about that. Both his parents were Gryffindors and he was aiming to be in the house as well.  
However, there was something about this boy that struck James as different. He wasn't sure what it was and he couldn't put his finger on it. All he knew was that he liked him and that he had a feeling that they were going to get along. And that was all that mattered to James.

"Nice." he smiled and leaned back in his seat, taking a quick glance out the window. A shadow fell across their compartment as Sirius plopped into the seat across from him.

"Are you excited?" he asked, the look on the other boy's face giving away the answer before he even spoke.  
"Obviously." He snorted. "Though not enough to actually _read_ the textbooks?" Sirius pulled a face and leaned in. "Did you know I saw this boy on the platform, first year- I think, with our History of Magic textbook _already_ open. At least save it for the train!"

James snorted. "Really? At least read something interesting. According to my dad, History of Magic is the _worst._ " Sirius' face fell slightly at the mention of a family member (yeah, there was definately something going on there...) , so he quickly changed the subject. "What subject are you looking forwards to?"

"Defence against the Dart Arts!" Sirius looked up. "Won't it just be so _cool_ to learn about all those spells and creatures?"  
James nodded, agreeing with the boy. "I really want to start with Charms. Can't wait until we learn all those hexes. I am going to have a field day with pranking here."  
Sirius grinned widely at him, eyes shining brightly at the mention of pranking. "Don't tell me _you're_ into pranking as well?" he asked, voice high with excitement.  
"Only the best!" James said confidently, doing a little shimmy in his seat. "Just wait until I tell you what I did to my aunt last month."  
"Oh man, we are so going to get along."

And so the pair fell into easy conversation, laughing loudly and exchanging stories and troublemaking ideas. If a teacher was to walk past their compartment at the time, they would've had a heart attack at all the devilish schemes the two were already coming up with- they hadn't even reached the castle yet! Eventually, however, their conversation was interrupted.

The perpetrator in question was a girl, another first year by the looks of it. She was really quite pretty, with dark red hair that bordered on brown and bright green eyes. However, she didn't look very happy, completely ignoring the pair as she slid along the seats to the corner by the window and crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes were slightly red and she was sniffing slightly. It was obvious that she'd been crying.

James and Sirius exchanged glances, each glancing at the girl in turn. She completely ignored the pair, entirely absorbed in the scenery that passed outside. A cloud had covered the sun and the sky was slightly overcast.  
Shrugging, Sirius turned back to James and began to reanimate their conversation. They passed through a plethora of topics, from favourite Quidditch teams to which flavour of Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans they found the most disgusting. With every topic that they reached, even the most boring ones, it seemed Sirius and James could find something stupid to laugh about. At one moment when their conversation had reached a comfortable silence, a voice could be heard from their compartment- high pitched and drawling.  
"You'd better be in Slytherin."  
At the mention of the house, both James and Sirius looked up. A boy stood there, thin and bat-like, with greasy black hair and a pale face. He was talking to the girl, who had on a half forced smile.

"Slytherin?" James asked incredulously, giving a look of distaste at the boy. His father had told him all about _Slytherins,_ sly, greedy little things that were really quite awful people. If this boy was a Slytherin then James didn't want to talk to him.

"Who'd want to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James asked, glancing at Sirius who wasn't smiling.  
"My whole family have been in Slytherin." he said, sounding slightly ashamed.  
"Blimey," James tried to give Sirius a friendly grin to show that he wasn't mad or anything. That boy was anything _but_ a Slytherin. "And I thought you seemed alright!"

Sirius smiled, finally. "Maybe I'll break the tradition." he sounded hopeful. "Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

James beamed widely and held up his hands as if he was carrying an invisible sword. "' _Gryffindor, where the brave dwell at heart._ Like my dad."  
The other boy gave some sort of a snort, a mix between disgust and mocking. James and Sirius exchanged glances at that, knowing exactly what the other was thinking. Sirius smirked.  
"Got a problem with that?" James asked. The boy shook his head, but the look on his face said otherwise.  
"If you'd rather be brawny than brainy –"  
"Where are you going, seeing as you're neither?" interjected Sirius. James guffawed and gave him a high five. The girl, who hadn't said anything yet, stood up quite suddenly.  
"Come on Severus, let's go find another compartment." she sighed, giving a look of disgust at the two, causing them to laugh harder.  
" _Oooo"_ Sirius imitated her voice as they walked past, James trying to trip Severus as he did. "See ya, Snivellus!" he called as the door slammed shut.  
"Good one!" James snorted as they were left alone again.

Sirius grinned back at him, his eyes falling away from the pair and meeting James' hazel ones. He had such an exhilarated expression on his face, as if he was sure that he'd never laugh that hard again and he was trying to savour the moment. Feeling a shock of pity for him, James sat up a little straighter. Usually he didn't enjoy being serious, but he really liked Sirius. _I can be serious for Sirius,_ he thought, mentally snorting at the pun.  
"I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to teach me all of your comebacks." James said casually, leaning back in his seat and watching Sirius carefully. The boy looked up, as if realising that James had noticed. Then a wide grin overtook his face, making him look all the more handsome and carefree.  
"I'm sure I-"  
"Excuse me?"

Another voice intruded their conversation, though this time it was neither Severus nor the girl. Instead, another boy stood there- a first year by the look of him. He must have just changed, having donned his Hogwarts robes and he had a slightly shabby look about him, long and slightly messy hair that covered his eyes.  
James and Sirius looked up, pausing in the middle of their conversation to take in the boy. He halted for a second, as if uncomfortable under their scrutinizing gazes.

"I went to get changed and this couple were sitting in my compartment. They weren't exactly the nicest and all, so I was wondering if I could join you?" asked the boy, eyes flickering between the two. James nodded furiously and scooted over to make room for the boy, who sat down graciously.  
"My name's Remus, by the way." he said, holding out his hand to James and then in turn to Sirius, who both shook it.  
"I'm Sirius, and that's James." Sirius said, nodding towards to James, who leaned in to look Remus in the eyes.  
"Were the couple consisting of a greasy looking boy and a girl with red hair?" he asked. Remus frowned and nodded. "You know them?"  
James nodded. "We just had a little encounter of our own with them." he flashed a grin at Sirius. "He's not a particularly nice bloke- we should get him when we get to Hogwarts."  
"Get him?" Remus echoed. "What does that mean?"

Sirius beamed positively manically. "You've just entered the compartment of the pranking _masters._ Tread carefully, Remus." The boy seemed to realize it was a joke and he smiled, settling down a little bit.  
"You're going to plan him? Are you sure that's a good idea, you might get into trouble."  
"Only if we get caught." James lowered his voice. "I've stolen my dad's invisibility cloak from his room. Might as well put it to good use."  
"Woah." Sirius said, his eyes wide. "You've got a cloak?" James nodded.  
"Just for opportunities like this." he smiled. "Guess I've got some sort of future sight." He wobbled his fingers in mock creepiness.

"I'm sure." Remus said sarcastically and suddenly James liked him a lot better. After a few more minutes of easy conversation, where James realized that Remus also was aiming for Gryffindor and that both he and Sirius had family working in the ministry, the pair bid the shorter boy farewell and went hunting for bathrooms to change their clothes in. As they made their way down the hall they continued to converse, laughing so loudly that a few sixth year Ravenclaws had to tell them to be quiet.

They were making their way back to the compartment when they heard a slight commotion coming from down the hall. Peering their heads around the corner, James and Sirius could see a fairly short boy, blonde and wide eyed. Standing above him were a bunch of older students, fifth year by the looks of it. At the forefront of them was a tall boy with pale blonde hair, almost white. He had an angular and his emerald green robes gave his house away.

"That's Lucius Malfoy." Sirius breathed. James didn't question how he knew, he was too busy staring intently at the events that were being unfolded.  
"…is our compartment now." aaid the boy, Lucius, apparently. The boys that stood around him, his cronies perhaps, laughed loudly. Lucius gave the short boy a look of contempt before swinging the door shut.

"Hey!" James called out and ran forwards, but it was too late.  
"Bad idea." Sirius murmured, following him. "That boy was a prefect."  
"What was he going to do, take away house points?" James asked sarcastically. "That pompous, stupid little-"  
"Are you sure you're not talking about yourself?"

James whirled around to find himself face to face with the redheaded girl from earlier. She still had a scowl on her face and she gave him a look of pure hatred. At first James was tempted to say something, but she'd already cut him off.  
"I don't appreciate what you said to Sev," she began and James knew he was going to be lectured. "If all the students in this school are as pig-headed, insufferable-"  
"That's James to you." he smirked.  
She looked at him coldly, staring at his outstretched hand as if it was some sort of disease. She opened her mouth to say something but apparently decided against it, whirling around and marching away, red hair spilling over her shoulders. James grinned.  
"I like her."  
Sirius snorted and whacked him over the head. "You're nuts, mate."

"Thanks." A voice said and the pair turned their heads to look at the blonde boy, who had stood up off the floor. James had forgotten all about him in the action and suddenly feeling bad, grinned at the boy.  
"No problems. I'm James by the way, and this is Sirius." He said. The boy smiled back, eyes shining at having been noticed by the pair.  
"I'm Peter." He was beaming now and James couldn't help but follow his example. There was something about his smile that was contagious and soon they were all laughing about the girl and what had just happened.  
"She's crazy." Peter said when James had finished the story, looking back at the direction she had come from. "Why's she friends with _him_ in the first place?"  
"Good question." Sirius said, staring to make his way back. "We should head back, coming Peter? You can help up plan, we need to add that girl to our prank."

Peter happily agreed and soon they were back in the compartment. Remus was still in there, leaning against the wall with his mouth open, having dozed off.  
" _Watch this._ " Sirius mouthed, tiptoeing to the sleeping boy.  
"BOO!"  
" _ARGH!"_ Remus yelped, jumping up. The other three fell into hysterical laugher and despite himself Remus started to laugh as well. After filling in the other boy on what had happened they began to talk about the possible pranks they could pull.

"We should get them together." Sirius announced, once they had decided that they were indeed pulling a prank. The other three nodded their consent, but Remus spoke up.  
"Though we should wait a bit before we do it, a week or two. Just so we get used to the workload, you know?" he said.  
"Great, Remus, you can be our manager." James laughed.  
"If he's the manager, then I'm our mascot." Sirius joked, clawing out his hands. "Rawr!"  
"You're not a tiger, you're more like a dog." Peter piped up. Sirius laughed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and you're a mouse, Peter!"

This then lead to a conversation about which animals they'd be, which in turn lead to a conversation about patronuses and then to lessons and teachers. The boys were so deeply engrossed in conversation that they hardly realized when soft rain began pattering at the window, nor did they notice when the light outside dimmed down as night fell outside. In fact, the only time they noticed anything was when the train came to a full halt and the excited yelps of students outside their compartment came closer.  
"We're here!" James was the first to notice it, leaping out of his seat in excitement and promptly banging his head on the overhead rack. The other three burst into hysterical laughter, cut short by the view of the red headed girl and her slimy companion, both giving them the most disgusted look. Of course, their silence was only for a second for they remember their pranking plan and began to laugh again, much louder.

Eventually the four had made it out of the train. James took a sharp inhale in, taking in the fresh air and the scent of rain. In the distance someone was calling for the first years. Around him milled students all in their uniforms, chattering animatedly and in the distance James could see lanterns, though his glasses were becoming splattered with water rather quickly.  
"Come on, James!" called Sirius, who was a few feet ahead of him now. James peered up at the three new friends who were impatiently waiting for him by a giant of a man who was calling for first years. Peter, looking around him in awe, Remus, who was engaged in avid conversation with the tall man about the school, and Sirius, who gave him the biggest smile James had ever seen.  
These were his friends. This was his school.

 _God,_ this year was going to be fun.

 **Hey! After about a million years, I've finally sat down and decided to write this story. It's been bubbling in my head for ages and I've been contemplating taking on the responsibility. Eventually, I decided that yes- I was going to write it. Mischief Managed is going to be a series of stories, all following the Marauders in their years at Hogwarts, staring from their first train ride to their last meal in the Great Hall at 7** **th** **year. It'll have all the canon events and of course a few twist and OCs of my own, it would be boring without them! I'm really excited to start writing this and I hope you are to read it. If you enjoyed this chapter then I pray you leave a review! Even a few small words really do give me encouragement to keep writing- if I feel there's an audience waiting on me then I probably won't procrastinate as much, hahaha. Really though, it'd mean a lot.  
I really hope you enjoyed the first chapter and I assure you, there's loads more to come!**


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO-

Waking up from his reverie, James shook his head and raced forwards to meet his friends by the giant man, who was still calling for the first years. He stood over two metres, a towering figure that James should have been intimidated by, but wasn't. Perhaps it was the way his dark eyes twinkled that made James feel like he was some sort of friendly figure, perhaps an uncle of sorts.  
Once he was sure that he had gathered everyone, the man (who'd introduced himself as Hagrid) told the group of students to follow him. James noticed that they were going a different direction to the other students and turned to voice this to his friends.

"We take the boats for a scenic introduction." Remus answered immediately and cringed as the other three stared at him in surprise. "I read it a book…" he trailed off, apparently embarrassed.  
"So it _was_ you I caught reading on the platform, you huge nerd." Sirius sniggered, elbowing the other boy as they made their way along a dirt path to the distant lanterns that glowed ahead. Peter turned to shrug at James, but the boy wasn't paying attention- he was too lost on his own thoughts about the red headed girl who walked a few paces ahead of them. She was talking to the boy (Severus, was it?)-and sounded very determined as she did.  
"Who _were_ those people you were talking to?" she was saying, leaping to the side to avoid a puddle in the path. Severus wasn't so lucky, however, tripping over the hem of his robes and splashing himself with muddy water. James snickered loudly and the two turned to glance at him. Recognising him, the girl rolled her eyes and pulled a face before turning back to talk to her companion.  
"Only a few family friends." Severus sounded rather bored with the conversation, as if there were much better things that they could have talked about.  
"Well I don't like them in the slightest! Sev, please don't say we have to hang out with them?" she sounded cross with his indifference and for some reason, James smiled. Obviously their relationship wasn't as strong as he'd thought.

"Earth to James." Sirius said, waving his hand in front of James' eyes. "Did you even hear what I said?" When James shook his head he glanced at the other two as if to say, ' _he's hopeless'._ However, James didn't really seem to mind that they knew he was interested in the girl. Even they'd only known one another for a few hours, he felt as though he could trust these boys.  
"I said, do you want to go in a boat together?" Sirius repeated slowly, as if James was dumb. Only then did James realized that they had arrived at the edge of a lake where a number of boats sat, each fitting four people and a lantern at the top. Pushing Sirius, he nodded and began to make his way to one of the boats, Peter, Sirius and Remus following suit. As soon as all the students were safely secured into their seats, they lurched forwards and began to glide over the inky black water.

"I heard there's a giant squid in the lake!" Peter said excitedly, leaning over the edge so that his nose was almost touching the water. Jokingly, James leaned over and pretended to push him into the water, causing Peter to yelp loudly and the boys to fall into fits of laughter.  
The red haired girl, hearing the commotion, turned and gazed at the group with a look of pure contempt before looking straight ahead, a stony look on her face.  
"She really has it in for you…" Remus murmured, frowning at James. "What did you do?"  
"What can I say?" James smirked. "She's just intimidated by my natural good looks."  
Sirius laughed. "You'll never get her to like you." he decided, glancing back at her.

James rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Fine. I bet you that she'll be going out with me by seventh year. Cross my heart."  
"Yeah, sure. You better keep your word on that."

Their conversation slowly began to die down as they arrived near a curtain on ivy hanging from a rock. Once all the boats had lined up, they moved ahead once more and it was when James was ducking under that he was it for the first time.  
Hogwarts was exactly how he had imagined it, tall and so beautiful it nearly took his breath away. It was huge- impossibly so- and so grand he needed a few minutes to take it in. A warm golden glow came from the windows and he could hear the low rumble of conversation as the distant pointed hats of students disappeared into the castle. If he squinted, James could make out tiny windows on one of the towers. Gryffindor dormitories, where he'd hopefully be very soon.

Eventually the boats glided onto the shore of smooth rocks and the students climbed, all conversing excitedly. Even the girl had a look of awe on her face. And James, well James was delighted.  
"Isn't it great?" he asked his friends as they followed Hagrid up a cobbled staircase to the front doors of the castle, which were at least triple his height and very grand indeed.  
"Yeah." Sirius breathed, mirroring his friend's awe. "It is."

Once they had reached the top of the stairs, Hagrid lifted one giant fist and knocked, loudly.  
A woman appeared almost immediately, a stern looking witch with a slightly lined face and dark hair pulled neatly under her hat. She had steel grey eyes and James felt as though she was someone not to be messed with- of course he was going to try, however.  
"Welcome to Hogwarts." she said in a no-nonsense voice. "I am Professor McGonagall, vice principal and head of Gryffindor house. Please follow me."  
And with that, she turned around in a swish of her dark cape. The students, murmuring lowly, followed her down into a giant corridor and to a set of large doors which, presumably, was the Great Hall.

"In a moment you are going to be sorted. There a four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. These will determine your classes, dormitories and most likely, your friends. Not to worry," she gave her first real smile. "I have known plenty inter-house best friends. Please, however, be on your best behaviour as you enter. The whole school was watching."  
She addressed this last comment to James and Sirius, who were busy whispering about something. They both stared at her with wide eyes and Remus rolled his own, as if it was unsurprising that they'd get into trouble in their first minute of the school.  
Not waiting another moment, Professor McGonagall swung open the doors to the hall and marched forwards.

Following her, single file, the first years made their way into the hall. James felt his mouth nearly fall open as he did, looking up in awe as he did. The ceiling was absolutely astonishing, bewitched to look like he was staring right into space- stars and nebulae swirling above him in a sprinkle of dust and lights. Around him sat the older years, students with coloured ties and smiles on their faces, like they were happy to be home.  
 _Home. I like that,_ thought James.

Once they had gathered at the front of the hall, McGonagall marched up and placed a stool at the very front of the hall so that it could be seen by everybody. Then, making her way back to the table, she produced a very old, very dusty hat.  
"I will call your name and you will sit on this stool. When I place the hat on your head, it will announce your hat."  
Sirius and James exchanged looks. ' _She's loony!'_ James mouthed, causing Sirius to snort very loudly and for a number of students and McGonagall to look at him incredulously. Remus sighed.  
"ATSBURY, Jeanne"  
A short girl with long black hair tied into a braid stepped forwards and sat on the stool. James didn't fail to notice that her hands were shaking.  
After a few moments of nothing, something peculiar seemed to happen. A rip in the hat appeared, as if it had a mouth and a voice called out.  
"RAVENCLAW!"

The first table on the left burst into applause and Sirius and James exchanged looks. It seemed the hat _did_ work.  
It was only a few names before Sirius was called, the first of the four to step up. James noticed that his smile had faded slightly and it was obvious what the boy was afraid of. Giving him a reassuring smile, James crossed his fingers behind his back.  
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat called out and the table at the far right erupted into cheers. A look of relief washed over Sirius' face and he gave James a thumbs up as he practically skipped towards the table.  
"I hope we're together." Peter said as he watched him go, forcing a smile.  
"I'm sure we will be."

The list went on and on and James was getting slightly impatient. Kat Devon was the first to be sorted into Hufflepuff and with the exception of Sirius, there hadn't been any new Gryffindor students.  
"EVANS, Lily!" McGonagall called and though James was hardly paying attention, he did a double take when he realized that it was the red headed girl from the train. She seemed much happier than earlier, grinning at Severus as she sat down on the stool.  
It was a split second before the hat announced she was to be placed in Gryffindor and the boy's face fell. However, James was now grinning. Surprisingly happily, the girl made her way to the table and sat down next to Sirius- only once she realized it was him she gave him a look of disgust and moved to sit somewhere else. Sirius pulled a face at the other three and gestured towards the empty seats around him as if to say ' _you'd better join me'._ Peter gulped.

The names started to draw on, and James realized he wasn't the only one who was getting bored. The older students around him were beginning to whisper and murmur about silly things as well, looking rather tired and hungry. It was then that James began to realize that he was hungry as well.  
'Hurry up!' he murmured under his breath, at the exact same time that McGonagall announced "LUPIN, Remus." to the hall.

Giving his friend an encouraging smile, James watched as the boy made his way up to the front, his hands playing with a loose piece of string that had come off his robes. There was a moment of silence and then a loud "GRYFFINDOR!" filled the hall.  
Grinning wildly, Remus raced to the table and sat down next to Sirius with a look of relief. James was happy for them, though he kept his fingers crossed behind his robes. He _really_ wanted to be with them.  
It felt like ages before the P's rolled around and even longer before it got to his name. A brunette girl named Mary had joined the ranks of Gryffindor students and now sat next to Lily, smiling animatedly as she watched her year get sorted.  
"POTTER, James!"  
' _Finally!'_ he mouthed at Peter, knowing fully well that everybody's eyes were on him as he made his way to the front. The hat was only on his head for a split second at most before a very loud voice rang in his ears.  
"GRYFFINDOR!" it screeched and the table at the far right erupted with cheers, Sirius and Remus the loudest by far. James' mouth split into a grin and he practically danced off the stool to sit down at the table.

"Nice of you to join us." Sirius said as James plopped into the seat across from him, giving a grin to Lily who rolled her eyes.  
"I told you that you were alright!" James said, referring to Sirius' nervousness. The taller boy pushed him and smiled wickedly.  
"Shush you guys, it's Peter's turn." Remus said, eyes glued onto the stool. Both boys quietened down as they followed their friend's gaze to Peter, who sat- eyes nearly covered by the hat. He sat there far longer than the others, but soon enough he was also making his way to sit next to James.  
"I did it!" he sounded excited and the others smiled at him. _We've all made it!_

The rest of the sortings drawled on and on, the only other highlight being when "SNAPE, Severus" was called and placed into Slytherin.  
" _Snape."_ Sirius snorted loudly. "His name is _Snape._ "  
It was all James could do not to burst into laughter. "It suits him, don't you think?"  
"Obviously. Aw, poor little Snivellus didn't get to be with his girly friend, huh? Is he going to cry about it?"

Finally, when WILSON, Gabriel, had been sorted into Hufflepuff and McGonagall had rolled up the scroll and taken away the stood, did Professor Dumbledore stand up.  
He was a rather grand person, James had to think. There was something about him that even James didn't want to defy, surprisingly, and definitely something that he quite liked. His blue eyes twinkled behind his half-moon spectacles as he made his way to the podium.

"Welcome back, new students and old, to Hogwarts. I don't want to keep you from your delicious food," James nodded at that. "But there are a few words I would like to share with you."  
" _Rules,_ fun…" Sirius groaned sarcastically.  
"Students should know that the Forbidden Forest is exactly that, forbidden. No students are to go near it, there are many dangers lurking inside. A few of you may have noticed our new addition to the forest and I plead you not to go near it. Professor Keating, our Herbology teacher has fondly dubbed it the 'Whomping Willow' and I don't want you to find out why it's called that."  
"Wonder what that's about? We should check it out" James wondered out loud, but he was cut off by an anxious glance from Remus.  
"I don't think you should..."  
"Why?"  
"Just… because…" the boy trailed off and looked away. Shrugging at Sirius and Peter, James tuned back to what Dumbledore was saying.  
"-is forbidden in the corridors. And, with that- eat!"

As he said those words, the golden platters in front of them bloomed with about as much food as James had ever seen in his life. Bowls overflowing with salad, a full roast chicken, potatoes. His mouth watered and following the example of Sirius who was already reaching for a leg of chicken, he began to help himself.  
The meal passed very quickly, with all the fun James was having eating and conversing with his new friends. They joked about the teachers and which looked the easiest to fool and which looked the worst to, who they thought was teaching what and what type of person they would be. Sirius did a hilarious impression of Snape, complete with slicking his long hair back and peering down at the others haughtily, causing James to laugh so hard he could hardly breathe. When the plates had finally cleared and when James felt as though he was about to explode, the students began to stand up and slowly file out of the hall. A tall, blonde sixth year student called for the first years to follow her as they made their way to the Gryffindor common room.  
The other first years- there weren't many, four girls (Lily, Mary and a tiny girl with bright blonde hair and a girl who looked half asleep) and two other boys (who appeared to be friends already) looked exhausted and weren't really in the mood for conversation. However, the other four were just as hyper as they had been when they had first boarded the train, still joking and laughing as they made their way up countless staircases until they reached the portrait of a very fat old lady in a bright pink dress.  
"Toadstools," the prefect said and the picture swung open to reveal a hole that lead to a very cozy looking room, complete with plush sofas where various students lounged around a fireplace- all coloured red and gold. "The password changes every month." she said, helping Peter through. The other three followed them, taking in the room.  
"Girls are on the left and boys on the right." she said. "At least two to a room, maximum five." the prefect nodded, as if dismissing them. Suddenly tired, James followed Remus, who had already begun to head up the stairs. There were a few floors, but it seemed only the third floor was unoccupied, with two separate rooms. The two other boys made their way into the dormitory on the left, leaving James, Sirius, Remus and Peter to make their way into the other room.

It was larger than James had pictured, at least double his room back home, with five four poster beds, each with their own dresser and curtains and a door to the left leading to a bathroom. Sighing deeply, Sirius flopped onto a bed furthest from the door. "I'm going to like it here."  
James laughed and dropped his bag down onto the bed next to his.  
"I know _I_ am." Remus said in awe, still standing in the doorway. James got the impression that this was a luxury for the boy, so he grinned and bowed.  
"Ah yes sir, refreshments?" he said in a false haughty accent, grabbing a pitcher of water and splashing Remus with it.  
"James!"  
James cackled evilly and leapt onto his bed, dancing just out of the boy's reach. "Catch me if you can!"

Eventually they had settled down and changed for bed, turning the lights down. It had been ages since they had made their way into the room, they had spent at least an hour chattering away loudly, laughing at each other's stories and jokes. Sirius' snoring filled the room now, and James rolled over, a smile still plastered onto his face.

 _Welcome home, James,_ he thought to himself, closing his eyes and falling into the nicest dreams he had had in a long time.


	3. Chapter 3

" _How can he possibly still be asleep?"  
_ "Should we spray him with water?"  
"Hold on, he's getting up."

James groaned and rolled over in bed, blocking the light by planting his face into his pillow. What sort of ungodly hour was this? Obviously the other three were already up and peering over him, James could tell that from their low whispering and mumbling.  
"I can hear you, you know?" he moaned, digging his face deeper into the soft pillow, unwilling to open his bleary eyes and face the light.  
"Oh, thank god!" that was Remus speaking, maybe. "Our timetables have been posted on the door, our first lesson begins in an hour."  
" _An hour?_ That's plenty of time, just let me sleep…" James rolled over and snuggled deeper into his blankets. The air was cool for summer but the inside of his bed was toasty warm and he was NOT going to get up now.  
"Up. We don't even know where our first lesson is!"

Sighing deeply, James sat up reluctantly. "Yes, Mom."  
Given Sirius' sniggers, he could tell that his hair was an insane mess. That was typical though, it seemed to defy gravity all the time, especially in the mornings, where it was practically unmanageable.  
"How do you even _manage_ to-"  
"Shhhh…" James half whispered, putting one finger to his friend's lips in an attempt to keep him quiet. "No talking for the next five minutes, I need to wake up."

Giving a silent roll of his eyes to the other two, Sirius made his way to the front of the door to join Peter, who was looking at - sure enough- a white piece of parchment where their timetable was posted. James could only just make out that it was a piece of paper, everything was blurry and a mess at the same time. Right, his glasses.

It took a few minutes for James to shake off his grogginess, including putting his robes on backwards and forgetting both his bag and his shoes as he left the room. This was to the intense amusement of the other three, who were practically in hysterics by the time James was fully ready and making his way down the stairs to the Common Room.  
"You were like a one man comedy show!"  
"That's where you're wrong, dear Peter. I _always_ am a comedy show."

"I have _never_ met someone as full of themselves as you are." an irritated voice broke through their conversation and James whirled around, only to find himself staring right into the green eyes of Lily Evans.  
"No, I'm just aware of my amazing talents." he grinned at her, running his hands through his already messy hair.  
"We'll see about that in class…" she gave him a gaze that read as a competition, before turning around to join one of the girls that had been sorted the previous night, James couldn't remember her name for the life of him.

James pulled a face at her as she left, climbing quickly out of the portrait hole as if she couldn't get away from him faster. Peter laughed as if he thought that her irritation at James was funny, before following her out of the hole.  
"Come on, I'm starving!" he said, racing out at a speed that James thought would be impossible for someone of his stature. Shrugging at the other two, he climbed out after his friend and made his way down to the Great Hall.

"You three eat like pigs…" Remus grimaced a few minutes later, as they sat at the edge of the Gryffindor table, watching the others shovel ungodly amounts of scrambled eggs and bacon into their mouths.  
"Wha'? It's goop!" Sirius said, his mouth full of food, causing the brown haired boy to grimace and scoot slightly further away from him.  
"Come on Loops! Put a little meat on your bones!" James said, swallowing what he was sure was an entire egg in one gulp.  
"No thanks. If I wanted to look like a fool in front of the whole school then I would, but I've got a little more common sense."  
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. I may be a fool, but I'm a _handsome_ fool!"  
Sirius spluttered in outrage. "What? I thought _I_ was the handsome one in this friendship group."

After a few minutes, in which James and Sirius had a full blown argument over which one of them was the most handsome, concluded by a disgusted Lily who was walking past- who'd assured them it was definitely neither- the boys were leaving the Great Hall and hunting for their first classroom.

"Defence against the Dark Arts…" Peter voiced, out of breath from walking up their fifth staircase. "That doesn't sound like a very happy subject."  
Sirius shrugged. "I dunno, I feel like it'd be the sort of subject I'd quite like. My family's nuts about the Dark Arts, it'd be hilarious to show them that my best subject is the one that defies it."  
It was the first time Sirius had mentioned his family willingly, James noticed- giving a quick glance of surprise to the others. However, Sirius had already started moving again, obviously not wanting to pursue the topic any further. James was about to question him, but a hand on his shoulder halted him.  
"Don't. Everybody has things that they'd probably prefer to keep to themselves." Remus' eyes were glued on Sirius, who was now waiting for them atop another staircase. There was some sort of edge in his voice that suggested that he had something of his own to keep a secret. However, James followed the boy's example and didn't ask any further questions. Soon enough they'd be close enough to tell one another everything, he was sure of it.

Eventually they made their way to the classroom, slightly out of breath and just before the bell rang. Exhausted, but very relieved, James flopped himself down into a desk next to Sirius and glanced towards the front of the classroom.  
Hm, that was odd. Nobody was there.  
He exchanged glances with Sirius, who shrugged back at him and peeked at the timetable again. "Are you sure we've got the right class?" he asked.

Sirius didn't reply, instead the boy sitting in front of James did. He was a Hufflepuff with messy brown hair and glasses and had an easy-going air about him.  
"That's what we thought when we came." he said. "But it's the right class, alright."  
Giving Sirius a look of confusion, James sighed and looked forwards. Sure, he wasn't looking forwards to the workload, but he was dying for his first lesson to start, and this wasn't exactly how he'd imagined it going.  
"Do you think maybe he's forgotten about us?" he asked a few minutes later, when still nobody had entered.  
Peter shrugged. "I guess it's-"

Just at that moment, however, there was a very loud crack. Startled by the noise and smoke that filled the room, quite a few students leapt up. James was one of them, grabbing his wand from his robes as he did- even if he didn't know any spells yet. Whoever the intruder was, he was willing to fight.

However, when the smoke cleared it was obvious that the perpetrator wasn't some sort of monster at all, but a man. He was a tall man with raven black hair and extremely blue eyes that seemed to blaze out behind his glasses. He looked quite youthful for a professor, and he had on a determined yet friendly gaze.  
Oh. Whoops.

"A wizard or witch…" the man began, taking long strides to the front of the classroom. "… Must always be prepared, not matter what comes their way. Be it a deadly creature, a dark foe or simply one of your professors giving you a fright." he smiled.  
"I see some of you have jumped up, very good! You think better on your feet. One of you," he said, glancing at James. "Has already drawn their wand- good, very good, Mr…?"  
"Potter." James said, giving Sirius a thumbs up behind his back.  
"Thank you. Mr Potter has already drawn his wand, a very smart move. Of course, it would not be very helpful now, given that you lack in the spells department. But you never know when you'll need a defensive spell- oh, please sit!"

James slid into his seat, locking eyes with Lily as he did so. The girl gave him a cold, irritated gaze. She hadn't stood up, James noted.  
"I am Professor Andre, your Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for this year." he said, turning and charming a piece of chalk to write his name on the chalkboard behind him. "My lessons may be slightly different from your other classes and, I hope, very useful for later on in your wizarding careers. I will not be treating you as first years in this class, but as equals. In the real world, a Dark wizard will not go easy on you because you are younger. You _must_ be prepared, no matter what comes your way."  
James exchanged glances with his friends. ' _I like him'_ he mouthed.

"Please, take out your wands." Professor Andre smiled when he saw the way the students' eyes lit up at the prospect. "Today we are going practice simple wand movements for defensive spells- not any actual spells yet, mind you. However, all defensive spells have a similar wand pattern which will help you greatly later on in life. Now, can anyone tell me a defensive spell- yes, Miss Evans?"

And so the lesson continued in a blur of wand movements and dancing around the class. Professor Andre was a brilliant teacher, James realized. There was something about his purposeful actions and the way that he never seemed to doubt a student for a second that really make James like him a lot. Even when Peter failed miserably at the simplest of motions, Professor Andre did not act frustrated in the slightest, just adjusting the boy's arm so that he was pointing in the right direction. James felt himself sigh as the bell rang, signalling the end of class.

"That was _amazing!"_ he said breathlessly, catching up with his friends who were a few paces ahead. "I want to be an auror when I'm older!" he announced loudly, causing the others to smile at his enthusiasm.  
"Hold on until we get to the other classes," Remus sighed slightly at the boy's immaturity. "Herbology next!"  
"If it's as fun as that was then I'm fine with it!"

Unfortunately, James was sorely mistaken. Professor Keating, a short, plump woman who wore bright yellow robes, for some reason, was not boring but in comparison to their previous class, they might as well have been. The Ravenclaws were hardly as fun as the Hufflepuffs as well, James noted as they stood around the Greenhouse, attempting to listen as Keating droned on about types of honeydew or something. Giving a mock yawn at Sirius, James pointed at Lily who was hanging onto every word the Professor said.  
"Prank planning session tonight…" whispered Sirius, nodding at the girl. "Tell the others."  
James did and by the time lunch rolled around they were already in full discussion about when they were to do it. James had hardly realized how hungry he was and had finished his first plate in a matter of seconds, causing Remus to grimace once again.  
"You're gross." He said. James noted that he'd hardly touched his food. He was about to comment when Sirius interrupted them.  
"Double potions with _Slytherins_ next…" he groaned. "I wonder how Snivellus is in class?"

Very good, James soon realized. Professor Slughorn, a dumpy old man who was the Head of Slytherin house, apparently, was practically fawning over him and Lily all lesson, causing a scowl to fix on James' face almost permanently that lesson.  
"Come off it, James." Sirius sighed. "Do you think that this is enough bile?" he asked, grimacing as he held up a vile of sticky yellow liquid. They were partners, which James had quickly realized was a terrible idea on both of their parts.  
"Looks like it." he shrugged, snatching the bile from a squeamish Sirius and pouring the thick substance into their bubbling pot. At that very moment there was a loud pop and their concoction turned grey and about the same consistency as cement. They could hear a sharp _tsk_ from Slughorn's desk and James knew that he hadn't inherited his father's potion skills.  
A snort came from Lily and Snape's desk a few places down and James was appalled to see a grin plastered onto the boy's ugly face. _Oh great, he is so going to pay._

James was still irritated by that evening, as they sat in their dormitory, lights dimmed low and voices in hushed whispers.  
"We have to get him, soon!" he hissed, referring to Snape. "I can't believe he thinks he's better than us!"  
James was surprised to hear a soft chuckle coming from Remus' bed, and he whirled around to meet the boy's greenish eyes. "What's so funny?"  
Remus sighed, as if it was obvious. "It's just amusing to see you jealous."  
"Jealous! I'm not jealous!"  
This time it was Sirius' turn to laugh. "Yeah you are, mate. You're jealous because he's close to Lily."

"Am not!" James pouted indignantly, turning around. "If this is your excuse to get out of the prank, I don't care!"  
"I never said that! I still want to get him, even if your jealously is blind sighting you it doesn't change the fact that he's a slimy idiot who deserves to be knocked up a little. Plus, it'll be fun to see the look on his face when he gets what's coming to him!"  
James snorted. "You've got that right! You two in?"  
Peter nodded furiously. "It sounds like a good idea, plus we have your cloak! I'm in."  
Remus looked unsure. "Are you sure it's not too mean?"

James sighed. "No, he'll be _fine,_ it's just a little fun! Plus, you do want to get back at him for tripping you in the corridor." he said, referring to an earlier incident where Snape had "accidently" send Remus and his books flying down the stairs. James could tell the boy was still irritated about that.  
"If you say so." he paused. "It _will_ be funny…"

"Exactly!" James beamed wickedly. "Snape won't know what's coming to him…"


	4. Chapter 4

Slowly, as the days passed by, James started to get used to his new routine. He found himself knowing at the back of his mind exactly where each class was, much to the dismay of Peter- who was still struggling to remember their password. Their routine was slowly becoming familiar with him, though the mornings were still tough. _Merlin,_ classes started at eight! Eight! James was hardly up by that time at home, let alone getting his brain to function. However, just as he was getting used to his classes, he was slowly beginning to get used to waking up at such an ungodly hour every morning. James was still praying for Saturday to arrive, though. He could sleep in for as long as he liked!

James found himself enjoying a good many of his classes, despite the massive amounts of homework he was being set by the teachers. _"It's as if they expect us to have time turners or something- how on earth can we have enough time for all the work_ _ **and**_ _for ourselves?"_ Sirius had groaned the previous night as they lounged in plush armchairs, working furiously on a Transfiguration essay that was due in the next morning. Remus, who was letting Peter copy off his notes had sighed and said something along the lines of 'helping us get introduced'. James rolled his eyes at that, the boy was definitely enjoying the work a tad too much. Still, he was glad for his friends. He could copy of Remus, chat to Sirius every time a lesson was boring and Peter… well he could just look at Peter's work if he needed to feel better about his own.

It seemed that the teachers knew that the students were just getting used to the workload, so they were pretty lenient with due dates and such. The only exception to this was Professor McGonagall, who had marched up and down the rows of students with such a purpose that James felt Peter shrink in the seat beside him and told them that she expected the same amount of resolve from them as she did her NEWT classes and that there would be no excuses. However, James wasn't scared. His mother had taught him basic Transfiguration at home and he found the subject insanely easy. By the end of the lesson he had proved this, being the first one to transfigure the willow branch he was given to one of holly. McGonagall had given him her first real smile and awarded ten house points to Gryffindor. When Lily heard this, she turned so red in the face that James was certain that she would spontaneously combust.  
Sirius had given him a grin when he'd heard. His friend had been the second in class to succeed, very close behind James in fact. Despite his carefree nature, he really was a very bright boy. His only pitfall was Potions, which James realized was mostly because he was so disgusted by all the ingredients. He wouldn't have penned Sirius as such a girl. In fact, all four of them were horrendous at potions, Remus being best- not saying much at all. It was extremely agitating to watch Slughorn fawn all over Snape and Lily and their "perfect" potions. Half the time James spend in class was purely staring at them in disgust and not actually paying attention to class.

Truth was, James wasn't particularly bad at any subject. Most of the teachers didn't like him because of the sort of attitude he portrayed, especially when he was around Sirius. The caretaker (whose name had evaded James' mind)) positively loathed the boy and gave him a look of contempt to rival Lily's every time they even looked at one another in the corridors. _I haven't even done anything…yet._

The highlight of the week, however, was when they arrived at their second Defence against the Dark Arts class that week- last period on Friday. Eagerly, they lined up outside the class, humming enthusiastically with chatter about the lesson.  
"I heard that he's going to talk about the types of dangerous creatures there are! Jeanne in Ravenclaw told me!" the brown haired Hufflepuff who sat in front of James in class was saying to his friend.  
"No way, Gabriel, that's a lie! Isn't that reserved for second year?"  
Gabriel shrugged, a smile still plastered on his face as he tried to peer into the classroom.

"Nice way to end the week, don't you think?" Sirius asked, turning to James as they followed the boy's example and attempted to see into the dim light of the classroom. "I'm excited for us to spend the weekend exploring the castle, though!"  
This was referring to the plan the boys had made two nights back, realizing that there must have been numerous secret passageways and hidden rooms in the castle and made it their aim to find all of them by the time the year was over. So far none had been found, but they planned to spend their weekend scavenging the grounds and school for clues and hints to one.  
"Yeah, so am I! Think of all the pranking possibilities if we find one!" James kept his voice low so that the others couldn't hear. "Perfect for our little prank on Snivellus." Sirius nodded furiously.

However, they didn't have any time to complete the thought, for just at that moment the door to the classroom burst open and Professor Andre burst out, his cloak billowing behind him.  
"In, please!" he called, beckoning the students to follow him into the darkened classroom. Murmuring quietly, the crowd of students slowly shuffled forwards into the classroom and sat down.  
"Wands away, please." Andre said, smiling as he took in the low groaning that filled the classroom. "Not to worry, we'll have another practical lesson soon. Today will be more of an informing lesson than most, but there is plenty of interesting stuff to be learnt! Usually the syllabus for first year follows an introduction to the subject, but I think that you at least need to be aware of the types of "Dark" creatures that exist. Can anyone give me an example?"  
Lily's hand shot up into the air. "Giants?"  
Andre frowned. "I'm not sure Giants classify as a "Dark" creature, but I can see where you're coming from- they are very dangerous. We'll cover them in more depth later on this year. Now, can anyone tell me the name of the Giants' distant, rather ugly, cousin? I'll give you a hint, they're much more common- yes, Mr Wilson?"  
"Trolls?"  
"Yes, trolls. Very good. Now-"  
James missed what Andre said next, as just at that moment Sirius had leaned in. "Or Snape, depending how you look at it."  
James snorted loudly. A few heads turned to look at him, including Professor Andre, who gave him a sharp look, despite the twinkling of his dark blue eyes.  
"Ah, Mr Potter, as you find this lesson so interesting, tell us the name of another dangerous creature?"  
James shot an irritated look at Sirius, who was silently laughing behind his textbook. "Uhh, vampires?"  
There was a long pause before Andre spoke again, clapping his hands together.  
"Yes, good! Vampires do, in fact, classify as a "Dark creature", despite them being more humanoid than beastly. However, the tendencies that they have do link them to more of a dark creature than most, as they do have motive to harm wizards and witches like us. Of course, this is a generalization, not all of them are like this. Can anyone else tell me a similar creature that is classified in the same was as a vampire?"  
"A werewolf!" someone called out. Andre narrowed his eyes, trying to find the source but eventually failing. Unhappily, he sighed.  
"Yes, a werewolf. Now what is interesting about-" James was not paying attention to him, instead turning his head to his left to look at Remus, who had suddenly gone very pale. He looked very sick, as if he was going to throw up and James nearly asked if he wanted to go up to the Hospital Wing- but he didn't want to interrupt class again. Instead he gave his friend a concerned look and turned back, tuning into what Andre was saying.  
"-cast in wizarding society. So, now what I want you to do is turn to page 89 in your textbooks and…"

Soon the lesson was over and James felt a warm wave of exhilaration pass through him. He'd survived the week! Sure, he had a mile of homework to do and a feud with Snape that wasn't going away, but he was content! The week was over!  
Turning to his friends to speak, he opened his mouth but was nearly knocked over by Remus, who barrelled past him, murmuring something about not feeling well and dashing into the nearest restroom. Exchanging a concerned glance with Sirius and Peter, they stayed back outside- waiting for a good ten minutes before realizing that the boy wasn't coming out soon. Shrugging, slightly worried, James began to make his way to the Common Room.

They only saw the boy again at dinner, where he sat in their usual spot at the edge of the Gryffindor table. As they approached, he smiled at them- as if acting like nothing had happened. Taking his cue from this, James flopped into the seat across from him and began heaving sausages and mashed potatoes onto his plate, talking rapidly as he did.  
"So, I was thinking that we could go and explore around tomorrow?" he said. Peter nodded his agreement at the prospect enthusiastically, matching the speed at which James was eating.  
"Sounds good to me. My uncle said there's lots of hidden passageways in the school, if you know where they are."  
James frowned. "I didn't know you had an uncle that went here, Peter. Aren't you muggleborn?"  
Peter shook his head. "No, I'm half-blood, my mother went to school here a while ago. My whole family's been in Hufflepuff, so I can't wait to hear their reaction when they find out I'm in Gryffindor."  
Sirius sighed, looking downcast but didn't say anything. James, realizing that the talk of family reaction wasn't a good topic for his friend, hesitantly began to talk about something else.  
"Well, both of my parents were in Gryffindor, so I wasn't surprised. Of course, this house is just about as full of amazing people, just like me." He glanced at Lily. "Her, on the other hand."  
Sirius frowned. "I was meaning to say, I heard Lily sneak outside last night, past lights out. Wonder what she's doing out there."  
James grinned wickedly. "We should follow her and find out."  
"With your cloak? Are you sure that's a good idea?"  
"I'll be fine, don't worry! Plus, I'm sure it'll be hilarious when we give her a proper fright, huh?"

They spent the whole of dinner time talking enthusiastically about their plans for the next day and what to do when they caught Lily sneaking out, making sure to talk in low voices so that the girl wouldn't have any suspicion of them plotting against her. In fact, they were still chatting about their plans avidly as lights out neared, all of them lying in their respective beds and joking in low voices to one another about the ideas they could come up with.

"Are any of you planning to stay for Christmas?" James asked, after a long pause where he was sure Peter had fallen asleep.

Sirius let out a deep sigh. "Me, probably. Once my parents find out I'm in Gryffindor I'll probably be disowned anyways. Not like I care." James could tell that this was an obvious lie and that the boy was really quite worried about what his family thought, even if he didn't agree with them.  
"S'okay Sirius, we can be your new family." James joked, surprised at how much the boy's eyes lit up at the prospect.  
"Yeah!" Remus agreed. "I've always wanted a brother!"  
"Same." James said, frowning as he realised something. "Hey, we're all only children here, right?"  
The others nodded. "What do you mean?" Peter asked. 

James paused. "Well, maybe we could form like some sort of club? Since none of us have brothers, we can be one another's brothers…" there was a silence. "If that's okay?"  
When Sirius' voice came, it was heavy with emotion. "I'd like that." He sounded as if he was smiling, and James let out a sigh of relief.

It was a long time before the group quit talking, laughing about all the plans they had for the future, ideas and pranks, plans on how to get James and Lily together. Soon enough, light snoring filled the room and James rolled over, closing his eyes.  
It was true, what he said. Though he'd only known these boys for a short time, he already felt like they were his own kin, caring for them as if they truly were. He knew he would do anything for these boys, and he knew they'd do the same.

 _Goodnight, whatever we are,_ James thought. _We should find a name for us. A real name, something to call ourselves. Something to make us special._

And with that thought in his head, James smiled and fell asleep.

 **Yoo, I hoped you liked that chapter! It's a little short, sorry about that! I'm unsure if I can update tomorrow, I have a lot of work due in hen- but I'll try my best. I hope you like the series so far, not to sound naggy, but if you do like it then please drop in a review/comment. It means the world to me! Thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5

It seemed that when there were no classes and no homework to occupy their time, days seemed to fly by even faster for James. In fact, he was surprised to have realized that by simply lounging around it seemed as though he could speed up time by nearly twofold, voicing this much to the amusement of Remus, who said that if he enjoyed lessons this much then it wouldn't feel as though they were droning on. To this, James scoffed.  
"I can't just _like_ lessons" he said. "It takes away from my image."  
"Which is?" Peter popped his head up from the game of exploding snap he and Sirius were playing. "I always thought it was to get on people's nerves."  
"Oi, shut it!" James scowled playfully. "We can all agree that _your_ image is just dirt."  
Sirius snorted loudly. "If he's dirt then you're garbage, James."  
James put his hand up in mock surrender, planting on a hurt face. "I'm feeling so attacked right now, how could you do this to me?"  
"Yeah, because you're so innocent." Remus muttered dryly, then lowered his voice. "Wasn't it you who suggested sneaking out at night?"  
"Only because you mentioned Lily was!" The group's eyes turned to the mentioned girl, whose fiery head was bent down over an astronomy essay- one that James could proudly say he'd already done. Granted, he'd copied off of Sirius and Remus- the former being surprisingly good at the subject and the latter being good at most subjects anyways, sans potions. Well, they were _all_ dreadful at potions.

"So, what is the plan for when we sneak out?" Peter said, a little too loudly. Cringing at the harsh glares of the other boys, he looked around to make sure nobody had said anything. "Sorry!"  
There was a sudden large boom, signalling Sirius' victory at their card game. He stood up quite abruptly, a tall figure for his age, and winked at the group.  
"I'm going to head upstairs for a minute." he said, loudly. "Care to join me?"  
Realizing what his friend was doing, James nodded and stood up too. The other two followed him, and soon they were practically racing upstairs to their dormitory.

"Okay! Plan of action!" Sirius said when they arrived, flopping on his bed unceremoniously. "Lily's most likely going to head out tonight- she's been doing it for the past few days. When she does, one of us will sound the alarm and someone, preferably you, Peter- sorry but you're not very noticeable- will grab James' cloak. Then we follow her and work out what she's been doing."  
"I've been thinking…" Remus said, suddenly. "Why don't we go get the _thing,_ you know the one for our prank of Snape, while we're out?"  
James nodded. "That's a good idea! If she's visiting where I think she's visiting, we'll be close to the potions storage closet anyways."  
Sirius frowned. "Where you _think-"  
_ "Doesn't matter!" James said a little too quickly, giving a wink at his friend, which read easily as ' _You'll find out soon enough'._

"I was wondering…" Peter said, after a short pause. "How do you know that Lily's been sneaking out?"  
Sirius shrugged as if it wasn't a very big deal. "Guess I'm just observant." There was another pause as the others gazed at him. "Oh, don't look at me like that. I don't _like_ her or anything!" he made a gagging motion.  
"Good." James said, in a tone that made it clear that he wouldn't have appreciated that. "Though…" he smiled mischievously and sat down next to Sirius, waggling his eyebrows cheekily. "Who _do_ you like, Sirius?"  
Sirius flushed brightly and looked away from James and the other two, focusing on a spot on the floor. "Nobody!"  
"Hmmm…." James said, leaning in even closer. "Not even _one_ girl?"  
"No girl."  
"You know," Remus began, a similar sly look on his face. "You go all posh when you're flustered."  
"Oi, shut up!"

It was a while later when dinnertime rolled around, and the boys found themselves quite late- having spent a good few hours roaming the castle and attempting to find one of the many secret passageways that they were sure littered the castle. Unsurprisingly, it was to no avail, and the four were beginning to get a little tired and very hungry.  
"We need a map or something!" Peter sighed in exasperation as they made their way up a staircase in an unfamiliar part of the castle. "Then I'd never be late for transfiguration."  
"You'd always be late for transfiguration." James smirked. "You hate that subject." 

However, their conversation was soon cut short by a snarl coming from the end of the corridor. Exchanging glances, the four cautiously made their way down the hall and peered over the corner, attempting to see what was going on.  
At first they could hardly see, they had all got in one another's way and it was impossible to see through a face full of Sirius' thick, dark hair. Then, after a moment of scuffling around, they managed to reach a balance and were able to see what was going.  
A prefect with long platinum hair tied into a ponytail was leaning over someone, a girl whom James could not see yet. His robes draped about him in a haphazard way and the way he was talking sounded as if he was rather annoyed. Around him, two other students- both Slytherin- stood, one short and thick, his arms crossed and an irritated look on his bulldog-like face. The other boy was his opposite, tall and thin with dark skin and surprisingly light hair. However, like the other two, this boy had a look of annoyance and disgust about him.  
"I'm just _asking_ you-" the blonde boy spoke again, his voice high and clear and somehow familiar. When he felt Peter stiffen up next to him, James realized- though Sirius bet him to it.  
"Lucius Malfoy." he breathed. Peter and James didn't say anything, however Remus looked at the taller boy in confusion.  
"Oh, right. He was the one who was harassing Peter on the train." Sirius said in a low voice, eyes still glued on the boy and trying to get a look at the girl.

"-be friends with a mudblood like you." Malfoy finished, crossing his arms as if awaiting a response. James frowned at the term. It was an awfully derogatory way of naming muggle borns, whom people like Lucius apparently abhorred. Obviously they had run into the wrong crowd.  
However, James' train of thought was cut off quickly by a flash of bright red hair and his mouth nearly fell open. If the flash of red wasn't enough, the moment the girl opened her mouth he identified her- he'd know that voice anywhere.  
It was Lily Evans.

"I'll have you know Sev _wants_ to be friends with me, I haven't done anything." she said darkly, giving Malfoy a look of such contempt that James wanted to whoop. "Now if you'll leave me be-"  
"Not so fast." Malfoy said grabbing her arm as she tried to brush past. "I'll need to ask you to answer me properly."  
"You're hurting me!"

"Hey!" James couldn't help it anymore, marching forwards until he met Malfoy's eyes. The taller boy frowned, his stony face betrayed no emotion. Still, James knew what he had done would work- the boy wasn't going to do anything with a larger crowd. The other three had followed James, and now Malfoy and his friends were facing an audience of four- they wouldn't risk it. "What's going on?"

Malfoy dropped Lily's arm and scowled. "Just talking to this young lady, none of a first year's business."  
"She's our friend, it is our business." Sirius pointed, nearly choking at the word 'friend'. Lily herself looked disgusted as well.  
"Ten points from Gryffindor for disrespect. I hope you learn, or it'll be more later on." Malfoy snarled, giving them a pointed glance before brushing on with his two companions flanking him.

There was a brief pause before they all bust into conversation, James and Lily speaking at the exact same time.  
"What were you doing?"  
"What happened?"  
Lily wasn't looking mad at him, for once, but her jade eyes were still frowning, looking at him in something that was a mix of confusion and irritation.  
"You first." James said.

"Fine." she sighed and began to walk. "Come on, we'll be late for dinner."  
James quickened his pace to match hers, the other three following them- par Remus' instruction a little slower- probably to give them room. James smiled at that.  
"If you _must_ know, they cornered me about Sev, said I must have given him a potion or something for him to be my friend. They thought that there was no way that a muggle born like me could have been friends with someone like him."  
James frowned at that. "That's stupid, there's nothing wrong with muggle borns at all! In fact, some of them are much smarter than the rest of us!"  
Lily sighed. "That's what I've been saying! I- erm…" she cut off halfway, as if realizing what James had said. She gave him another mixed look, this one more curiosity and surprise, however. Then, masked gratitude.  
"Thanks." She sighed begrudgingly.  
James winked at her, causing her to scowl all over again and look away. "What were _you_ doing, anyways?"

James gave a glance at the others, who walked a few feet behind them. "We were just mucking around, you know. Then we came across you and we intervened. Simple."  
"Oh." She sounded surprised that it was that simple. "Well, erm, thanks again- then."  
Lily frowned at James' eager face, rolling her eyes and beginning to make her way away from them- they had arrived at the Great Hall anyways. "It doesn't mean we're friends, though!" she called as she made her way to Mary, the girl she had been friends with since the first day.  
"Wouldn't dream of it."

That night, Peter was hesitant.  
"But you were doing so well with her! You could ruin it if she found out!" he said, looking at the other three anxiously.  
"I wouldn't call that 'doing well', Peter." Sirius said. "She still hates his guts, just slightly less. Plus, when did you start becoming so invested in James and Lily?"  
Peter flushed. "I just think they'd make a good couple."

Remus, who had been listening for quite a while. "It doesn't seem to matter whether they'd be the most romantic couple this earth has seen- and I doubt that- James seems dead set on it."  
"Right, that." James leaned back in his chair, arms behind his neck. "A true mischief maker never goes back on his promises."  
"Shh! There! She's going!"

Four pairs of heads turned to the left, slowly. Just as Sirius had said, Lily made her way quietly to the portrait hole, glancing to make sure that nobody was looking and then slipping out- unnoticed in her eyes.  
"Okay, Peter, grab the cloak! Let's sort this out!"

With a reluctant sigh, Peter stood and scampered upstairs. It only took a moment before he raced down again, cloak in hand and a guilty look on his face.  
Sirius stood up, taking in the room. The common room was fairly empty, just them, a dozing fourth year and a pair of sixth years engaged in trivial conversation. Other than them, sneaking out would be easy.

And so they did, sniggering as they made their way out onto the corridor and down the stairs, slipping the cloak on as they did.  
"Woah." Remus muttered as he examined them. "What kind of magic goes into this?"  
"Who cares, you nerd." Sirius teased, pulling a face at his friend. "The real question is where did Lily go? I think we should try the left."

And so they did. And then the right. And then the left again. But it was to no avail, unfortunately. Lily could simply not be found, no matter how much they tried to look for her. Irritated and slightly tired, they slowly began to trudge their way up the stairs that lead to their Defence against the Dark Arts classroom, making sure to be quiet so that the portraits wouldn't hear them. They had passed one or two ghosts on their way up, much to Peter's absolute horror and Sirius' enjoyment.  
"I told you it was a bad idea." Peter said as they made their way up. "If Lily had fou- hold on, do you hear that?"

The others paused, listening. Sure enough, there was a slow murmur in one of the classrooms, as if somebody was speaking- but that was ridiculous, not at that time of night. They paused again. There it was.  
Glancing at one another, the four made a unanimous decision to creep closer to the door, making sure to remain silent as they did.  
"-not going to risk it." a very familiar voice was saying, though for the life of him James could not place who it was. "No, of course Dumbledore doesn't know!"  
The boys exchanged glances at that one, and suddenly James felt a sense of dread. If this person was keeping something away from Dumbledore, it mustn't be good.  
Another voice spoke, but it was too muffled to hear. Sirius tried to press his ear to the door in an attempt to gauge what was being said, but it was to no avail.  
"Yes, I'll try- okay! Jeez, you don't need to be so pushy." The voice sounded irritated now, as if they knew what they were doing. "I'll get rid of them, promise."

At this, Sirius could not take any more. "Get rid of _what?_ " he asked in a low whisper, turning to face the others.  
"We… shouldn't jump to conclusions." Remus said, though his pale face looked even more so than usual and his eyes darted quickly to the door anxiously. "Perhaps it's ju-"

He was cut off by the door suddenly opening. Rooted to the spot, hardly daring to breathe, the boys stared, shocked at who it was who left the room. Sirius let out a low gasp, Peter stiffened beside him and Remus' eyes grew to twice their size. And James couldn't believe it.  
It was Professor Andre.

Andre frowned, as if he knew someone was out there. James could hardly blink as the man's eyes scanned the area, hovering over where they were standing for a moment too long before letting out a sigh and marching away.

None of them dared say a word as he disappeared down the long corridor, but James knew they were wondering the same thing. _Who was to be gotten rid of? Who was Andre talking to? What on earth was going on?_


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, all four boys were in a state of slight concern. Once they were sure Andre had left the classroom they had crept through the cracked door and peered around, trying to gauge any type of information about who the Defence against the Dark Arts professor was talking to, but it was to no avail. After at least a good half hour of searching, they decided it was hopeless and had silently trudged back up to the common room, not failing to notice that Lily was back in her seat by the fire, as if she had never left. However, they were too preoccupied to say anything about- instead talking until the late hours of the night about what on earth could have been going- eventually going to bed par the request of Arthur Weasley (a seventh year boy, who complained of being able to hear them from the top floor of the dormitory). Still, even without the frantic chatter- James still had trouble falling asleep.

However, at breakfast there was a slight relief from his concern. Unlike Peter, who seemed rather freaked out, James was trying his best not to let it eat at him- as he'd told the others the night before, they'd work something out to find out what was going on- though it was still lingering at the back of his mind when the post came. It was to James' surprise when a storm of owls came flooding through the doors to the Great Hall, their brown, white and grey wings soaring over the cyan coloured roof so it almost looked as though they were flying in the sky.  
A steel grey owl gracefully perched itself on James' shoulder, looking rather pleased with itself as it stuck out it's left leg to show a carefully folded white envelope.  
"Thanks, Calliope." James stroked the owl under her beak, Calliope trilling slightly as he did. "Wait here."  
As he carefully untied the letter, James glanced around quickly. The majority of students were busy opening letters from their own parents. Peter was already nose deep in a long letter, but James realized that both Remus and Sirius hadn't received letters. Truth being, he wasn't so surprised- Remus had told them that his family didn't own an owl and Sirius had already expressed that his family didn't think too much of him. Almost guiltily, James opened his letter and began to read.

 _James,_ it said.

 _How has your first week been? Hopefully you've adjusted well enough, not that I have many worries about you. You've always been awfully independent. Still, I hope you've made friends- remember to be nice, you can be a bit brash at times. I'm sure you have.  
Tell us, what house did the hat place you in? It must have been daunting up there, I can remember my own sorting like it was just yesterday. Your father says that you're to be disowned if you're not in Gryffindor, but he's only joking. We'll accept you no matter what house you're in._

 _I hope your lessons and teachers have been treating you well, I know the homework seems like a lot but you'll get used to it soon enough. Though you must really do it, James! It would be ridiculous and very stupid of you if you didn't! Detentions may seem rather funny to you now, but I assure you that they come back to bite you later on.  
Now, I don't like to reprimand you, but both your father and I have noticed the absence of his cloak. I know you often used it, but it doesn't belong to you just yet- remember that! Don't do anything stupid like sneaking out at night, I know you._

 _It must be so exciting for you, huh? I hope you're feeling the very best and to hear from you very soon!_

 _Lots of love, Mom._

Despite his worries, James smiled warmly at the letter. In the excitement, he'd hardly missed his parents but now he felt a sudden jolt of homesickness. He needed to write back immediately, otherwise he would end up forgetting.

"Remus," he said, peering at the other boy who was engaged in conversation with Sirius. "Do you have a quill?"  
He nodded and reached into his bag, pulling out a white feathered quill and a sheet or parchment. "Are you writing back now?"

James nodded, not looking back up at his friends- he still felt a little guilty, as much as it wasn't their fault.

 _Dear Mom and Dad,_

 _Things are great! Guess what? I've been sorted into Gryffindor! Looks like you won't have to disown me after all.  
I made some amazing friends on the train. One of them is called Peter Pettigrew, his mom works in the ministry, so you might know her dad. He's a little bit slow at times, but he tells really good stories and is super supportive. Another one is Remus Lupin, he's a bit odd- you'd like him mom, he's what you'd call a 'good influence'- but he's very sarcastic at times and very nice. And then there's Sirius Black, he's a real riot. You'd hate us together, I know it, but he's very funny and honestly I couldn't think of a better friend. I know, he's from the Black family, but he's so much different then the rest of them. He's got a bit of home troubles, so I mentioned to him that he could come over to ours this summer- if that's okay? Sorry if it's not._

 _I haven't gotten into too much trouble (yet!) but the homework is KILLING me! Did you have Professor McGonagall? She sets the most, and it's all super hard as well.  
Well, I have to go because there's class soon, but I'll try to write soon!_

 _James._

"Go up to the owlery and take a rest." James said to Calliope as he tied the letter to her leg "Then you can send this home to mum and dad." he gave her another scratch and she rubbed her head warmly against his cheek before flying off.  
"Didn't know you were such a sensitive soul." Sirius gave a snort, having viewed the little show a second ago.  
"Oi!"

Their good mood didn't last long, however, as their first lesson of the day was none other than Defence against the Dark Arts. The whole way up to their classroom, James and the others replayed the events of the previous night, all irrationally nervous to face Andre in class. Lily, having noticed the concern that must have registered on their faces, gave them an odd look before- surprisingly- leaning in to talk to James.  
"Professor Andre seems to be going of topic a lot, don't you think?" she whispered as the other students filed in and took their seats. James gave her a look of confusion, both at what she had just said and also at the fact that she was talking to him at all. Perhaps their little run in yesterday had been worth it.  
"I mean," she sighed, pulling her hair into a ponytail. "it sort of feels like he isn't covering what we're supposed to learning in class, basics and such. He seems to be jumping to the hard stuff rather quickly."  
James nodded but didn't have much time to respond, for at the moment Andre breezed into the class. He had the same friendly, confident air about him, and it was strange to see him like that after hearing him so irritated the night before. James saw Peter stiffen up as Andre's eyes glossed over them and he could have sworn they lingered a little bit longer on the four boys. But that was stupid. There was no way the he could have known. Right?

"Today," Andre began, walking smartly to the front of class. "We will be talking about self defence techniques and the way to hide yourself when confronted with one dangerous situation. There are many ways you can do this-"his eyes scanned the class once more. "You can blend into a crowd, cast a disillusionment charm…" his eyes met James' and he gave him a cold glare. "You could use an invisibility cloak."

At that, James' heart dropped like a stone and he could hear Sirius' slight gasp. Luckily, Andre hadn't seemed to notice and had gone straight back to lecturing the class. _He knows,_ James gasped to himself. _He knows we were there last night, he must do! Otherwise he wouldn't have said- wouldn't have chosen today to teach us about this. Somehow he found out we were there last night and he's taunting us about it._

Andre's comment lingered at the back of James' mind all day and he found it very hard to focus. During the rest of the class he had harshly targeted the four that had been out that night, throwing nearly impossible questions at them and hardly praising them like he usually did when they tried. Eventually it had become obvious what he was doing and even other students were beginning to notice.  
 _"What did you do to get his knickers in a twist?"_ Alice Loughlin, a fellow Gryffindor, had asked as they left the classroom later on. James had simply shrugged and exchanged a worried glance with his friends.  
 _There was no way- no way on earth that he could have seen us. Obviously whoever he was talking to was still in the room when he-_

"Mr Potter!" James was snapped out of his thoughts by a sharp call from Professor McGonagall, who was staring at him with a stern look on her face. "Honestly, what's gotten into you?"  
"Sorry, Minnie." he said, peering up at her with a silver of mischief. Usually McGonagall would threaten him if he called her that, but it seemed she was obviously concerned- James looked unusually pale. "I'm just a little tired."  
"Obviously so. Please go to bed sooner tonight. Now, I asked you- what is the third law of natural transfiguration, in your own words?"

It seemed that Sirius had had enough of their internal conflict, for the second they had left the classroom he had already began to march his way down the stairs with such purpose that James and the others had to jog to catch up.  
"I've had enough of this soggy mood," he said, flying down the stairs two at a time. "We're going to have some fun and get that stupid professor out of our heads."  
"I'm not complaining about that," Remus said, "but where are you taking us? The common rooms are the other way."  
"I know that," Sirius sighed. "I'm taking us to the kitchens?"  
" _The kitchens?_ How'd you find out how to get there?"  
"Gideon and Fabian Prewett, fourth year. Apparently they get the food for parties down there." Sirius said, still marching furiously down the corridor. Then, abruptly, he stopped at a portrait of a bowl of fruit. "Watch this."

Leaning in, he lifted one finger and ticked one of the fruits. Strangely enough, it let out a high giggle and the photo frame swung open, not unlike the fat lady, to show a giant room- the kitchens.

It was bustling with numerous house elves, all racing around the room in an attempt to prepare that night's dinner, piles and piles of plates all lined up- silver goblets filled to the brim with pumpkin juice and bowls overflowing with different types of jelly. Humming contently, Sirius stepped in, immediately greeted with a stream of tiny elves, all eagerly trying to offer him different bits of food, strawberry cheesecake, grilled sausages, roasted potatoes. Shooting a grin at them, Sirius graciously took a very large of cheesecake and sat down. Mirroring his friend's enthusiasm, James hopped down, Peter quickly following and Remus coming in last, muttering uncertainly.  
"Now _this_ is like it." Sirius leaned back as James accepted a plate of the same cake. "Just what we need to take our minds off _that._ Now who wants to talk about the prank?"

All of them, it seemed. It was a welcome change from the worries that had plagued them since last night and James was glad to just laugh mindlessly with his friends about trivial matters again and soon he had almost forgotten all about Professor Andre and the antics he was up to. Soon they were deep in conversation about the prank they were to pull on Snape and now- considering their run in with Malfoy the previous day- the rest of Slytherin house. Soon they had come up with a very detailed plan and now had a set date to pull it off, the day before Christmas break began.  
"I was wondering," James said, crossing his legs. "What should I get you for Christmas?"  
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Easy there, tiger. It's barely Halloween, don't you think it's a little early for that?"  
"It's never too early for _festivities!_ " James said, jazz handing dramatically and hopping to his feet. "I can't wait to see the castle all decorated!"  
"Same!" Sirius said, sighing satisfyingly as he took the last bite of his third slice of cake. Remus, who was still on his first, wrinkled his nose.  
"I'm surprised you're not obese, given how much you eat."  
Sirius laughed. "Who are you, my mom?"

And so it continued, them laughing and messing around. A few minutes later they hopped up to the common room to complete some of their homework that was due in the next day and before they knew it, it was dinner- time seemed to fly by when they weren't concerned about anything, or at least when they were trying to forget. Unfortunately, it all seemed to flood back when James entered the Great Hall to see Andre staring right at him.

However, it soon became the least of his worries- as the time grew on it became evident that Remus wasn't just late as they had though when they entered the hall earlier, but not coming to dinner altogether.  
"Perhaps he wasn't hungry." Sirius suggested, though it seemed he was the most worried out of all of them. "He doesn't eat much, he could have gone to the library or something." He didn't want to voice the fear the Andre had done something to their friend, as irrational as it was. Remus would have told them if he wasn't planning on going to dinner.

Their worries only grew when they checked both the library and the common room after dinner, to find their friend nowhere at all. They passed Andre, however, who gave them a sly, knowing smile which didn't do much to quench their imagination. In fact, James looked so irritated at the teacher- and tired- that Professor McGonagall commented on it as they passed one another in the halls later that night.  
"Just tired, Professor." he said, not even bothering to keep up appearances. "Do you know where Remus is?"

A flicker of something passed through McGonagall's face when he asked the question, but it quickly was brushed away as if nothing had happened at all. She gave James one of her rare smiles, though she herself looked rather worried.  
"Mr Lupin's mother found herself quite sick," she said. "and so he's gone to visit her for a night, just to make sure she's quite alright. He should be back tomorrow afternoon."  
James stared in concern, though he found himself thinking that McGonagall wasn't telling them the whole truth.  
"Is she alright?" he asked, rather worried. The professor smiled.  
"She will be fine, I'm glad you're concerned for your friend. Now, please, go to bed. I won't accept any fatigue in tomorrow's lesson." With that she briskly turned around, presumably making her way to wherever teachers slept.

It didn't take long before James raced back to the common room and told Sirius and Peter what Professor McGonagall had said. The former's face fell at the words and he looked out the window in concern. "I hope they're okay."

"They will be." Peter said suddenly, standing up. "Don't worry."  
Exchanging glances at their friend's sudden outburst, Sirius and James followed the shorter boy as he made his way up the stairs.  
 _I hope so._ He thought. _Please, let everything be okay._


	7. Chapter 7

**Welp, I accidently took a break. Sorry about that, it was sort of unintentional but school work and travelling kind of took over me. Adding to that, I've begun planning for my Nanowrimo novel, which is a topic I need to address- actually. My original plan was to do a half/half between this story and my other one, but the plot and characters I've created are really some of my best, so I actually would like to invest my time into them. That's not to say I'm abandoning this story for a whole month, because I'm not! I love this fic, even if it's small and not many people care, and I'm not gonna stop until I reach the last word of the seventh part. God, I'll probably be in university by the time that happens. Who know, I might even be out of KL when I do, I hope, at least.**

 **I'm getting ahead of myself here. Basically, what I'm trying to say is instead of one chapter every two days, It'll probably be once or twice a week. Maybe the same gap between last chapter and this one. We'll see, huh?**

 **I'm also sorry this one is short, I'm currently writing on a plane so that I can update the second I get home, and I'm getting yelled at to help my brother do his homework, so I'm a little pressed for time. Still, I hope whoever is reading this enjoys it! I don't want to sound naggy, but if you've been reading this story all this time and you enjoy it, it would mean so much to me if you just dropped something by to tell me. This is the most readers I've ever gotten from any fic I've ever written, and I'm so so thankful for even one view. Thanks guys!**

It seemed that the longer James spent at Hogwarts, the faster time seemed to zoom by him, like a zap of blurry light turning his days into a golden blur. Most of the time he was too busy living in the moment to feel anything but this low, humming elation at the reality of being at _Hogwarts._ Being there with what he could now call his best friends, the people he would happily spend the rest of his days with. At only 12, most people would be surprised that he could have decided so early, but James knew, somehow.

Perhaps it had to do with the way they complimented one another in a way James could have never imagined anyone would. Peter could always be counted on to encourage James to do things that he was hesitant to do, go talk to Lily as they made their way down the halls to their next class. Remus was always there when James needed to be slightly more serious, not that the boy was always the serious one, he could be a downright evil mastermind with his schemes. And Sirius was almost like a mind reader, finishing James' sentences and altogether, his best (or worst, depending on how you looked at it) partner in crime. If James was to have a brother, he would've hoped he'd be exactly like Sirius.  
There were others as well. One friend that James didn't expect to make came into the form of one Frank Longbottom. The brown haired boy was in the other dormitory with Parker Liu, who was the slightly sloppy-yet-friendly, sixth and final Gryffindor boy, due to the fact that there were only five beds in one room and he'd not wanted to leave Parker alone. He had also told them on various occasions that his fear that they'd keep him up until very early in the morning was a deciding factor, which was probably true. Still, as the days went on he was a constant presence at meal times and occasionally in the Common Room and someone James grew to know well, and like well.

James was on better terms with Lily since the run-in a few weeks back, though they were in no way friends just yet. Every time she called him 'Potter' instead of James he would internally wince, though he was much happier that she was at least _talking_ to him. They were far from friends, but it was improvement. Snape, Lily's constant friend, wasn't too happy about that, and James had heard him on various occasions complaining to her about it as they passed one another in the halls. To James' delight, she didn't always agree with him about his nasty comments about her housemates, and he felt a surge of elation when she told him to "Lay off on Potter".  
He'd also come to learn the names of the other four girls in their house. Alice Loughlin was the friendly girl with short blonde hair and bright grey eyes. She easily rivalled Lily, Remus and Frank (who especially was brilliant) in intelligence levels, and sometimes James wondered why she had not been placed in Ravenclaw. Mary Macdonald was the girl that Lily seemed the closest to, a short thing with slightly messy black hair and freckles and a very enthusiastic smile. Emmeline Vance, or Emmy, had wavy brown hair and a small, doll's mouth that would not stop spewing sarcastic, very funny, comments. James wasn't sure what Marlene's surname was, but she was the tallest of the lot, dark skinned with a mess of dark, curly hair that seemed to be styled differently each day. Even though he didn't talk to them very much he was still quite familiar with them and he found himself getting along with everyone he knew.

Things weren't always perfect, though. Professor Andre was still a little iffy with the boys, though his blasé annoyance wasn't so apparent in the lessons they had after what they ended up calling the 'incident'. Still, they were terrified of running into him again for fear of what he would do, meaning that there had been little excursions after lights out. In fact, when Remus had returned from visiting his mother at the time McGonagall had promised, looking a little more tired and worse for wear, they had made him swear to tell them when he'd leave so that they wouldn't have to worry about their friends' safety again. He'd promised, of course, though his eyes had looked slightly anxious.  
Snape, Malfoy and most of the other members of Slytherin house were awful nuisances as well, constantly spurting unkind comments to not only James and his friends, but also to the other Gryffindor students whom they passed in the corridors. At first it was a source of entertainment, the four finding amusement in the fairly terrible insults that were getting hauled at them, but as the days went on it became apparent that harsh words weren't all that they were capable of. One day, before potions, Frank had gotten pushed down the top of the stairs, which had resulted in a sharp crack in his ankle and a trip to the Hospital Wing. In fact, it got so bad that one night, the Friday before Halloween, Sirius stood up all at once and sighed very loudly.

"That's it!" he almost shouted and began to pace the room with such purpose that the floorboards shook slightly. "We _have_ to do something about those pricks."  
Peter looked bemused. "But… I though we already were?"  
"No, not like _that_." he sighed very loudly. "I mean, we need to something big. They've humiliated us in front of the whole school, so we should return the favour." Sirius' forehead creased as he tried to think of a plausible idea.  
James too, was lost in thought. He'd been getting along better with Lily, but she was still, _unfortunately,_ good friends with Snape. _Perhaps,_ he thought to himself, _if I manage to show her what a nasty person he is, she'll agree that our teasing is justified… or something like that.  
_ There was a moment of silence before someone spoke again.

"The Halloween feast is tomorrow…" Remus began slowly, brushing hair out of his eyes to look up from the book he was reading.  
"Thanks for that, Captain Obvious.' snorted James, flopping back so he was sprawled out in a starfish position on his bed.  
Remus rolled his eyes, as if James was stupid. "No, you don't get it. The _feast_ is tomorrow." he repeated, a slight grin on his face.  
Sirius was the first to get it. "Oh! That's a brilliant idea! What is the muggles say, 'a trick's a treat'? Something like that?"  
" _Trick or treat._ It's when muggle children dress up as fictional monsters, well, they _believe_ they're fictional, and knock on people's doors to get candy."  
James pulled a face. "Where do muggles come up with stuff like that?"  
"I dunno, I wouldn't mind some candy."  
"You _always_ want candy, Peter."

Just as James was about the comment about the ridiculousness of other muggle holidays, there was a sharp knock on the door. The boys froze, all slowly turning to look at Sirius. The boy _had_ spoken very loudly about their prank. They could only imagine who was behind it; a prefect? The head students? Professor McGonagall? Remus looked especially mortified, he was the only one out of them who hadn't gotten a detention yet- the other three had two weeks previously, having tried to slip the hair thinning potion they had made in class into Snape's pumpkin juice. _'It was worth it'_ Sirius had said as they scrubbed the trophies in some room at the end of the third floor, referring to the look on the boy's face when he took an unfortunately large gulp.

Then, the door opened and two very identical, very mischievous faces peered through the door. Sirius' face relaxed immediately, but the other three continued to look at them with cation.  
"We couldn't help hear something about a prank…" one of them, stepping into the room. He was very tall and had a brilliant shock of flaming hair, messy enough to rival James'.  
'And tonight's feast…" the other followed him in, not bothering to ask if it was alright. "Which we already have our own pranking plans for, actually. So we were wondering if you wanted to join forces?"

Sirius nodded enthusiastically and James could tell that the pair were already the type of people who he'd gladly get along with, so he let his face fall into an easy smile. He couldn't see the other two, but he heard Remus' hum of deliberation.  
"Gideon and Fabian Prewitt." The first said, gesturing to himself first and then his brother. "We're pretty known for our… antics…. around here."  
"Not to worry, we wouldn't sabotage someone else's plans. But two pranks in one night might be a bit much, don't you think?" Fabian grinned wickedly. "We're planning to get Slytherin too. They tried to lock Molly, our sister, in a broom closet with her boyfriend. Not saying that it wasn't time well spent, anyways, but we don't really appreciate people messing with family."

Sirius turned to the other three. "Gideon and Fabian were the ones who showed me to the kitchens, remember?" James smiled at that, the four had made various excursions to the kitchens at odd times since the previous month. They had decided it to be their 'official' hideout. " _Until we find a permanent one"_ James had said, causing Sirius to laugh.  
" _I'd be fine with this one."_ The boy had been stuffing himself with grapes at that point, much to the amusement of the others.

"Sounds good to me." James said, turning to the others. "What do you think?"  
Peter nodded enthusiastically, and though Remus had looked slightly cautious, he also nodded his consent.  
"Okay, great!" Gideon said, sitting himself down on James' bed without permission. "Now, here's what we've got."

"Are you _sure_ this is a good idea?"

It was a good few hours later when the boys had left the common room again, this time much later at night. The four of them were now huddled under James' invisibility cloak, tiptoeing down the hall that lead to their potions classroom.  
"Don't be silly, Remus, of course it is!" Sirius said in a hushed whisper, peering around to make sure that nobody was coming. "Their plan is genius!"

There was no denying that, the plan was probably one of the best James had ever heard, topping his own easily. Sure, he'd been slightly aggravated that he couldn't have come up with that himself, but he was assured by the others that he would, eventually, be able to come up with similar plan with more practice in the future. Perhaps he could learn from them. Fabian _had_ said something about 'continuing their legacy', or something like that.

Soon enough, the four had made their way down to the potions storage closet and were now rummaging around, trying to remember exactly what it was that the pair had told them they needed.  
"Oh this is enough." James sighed, yanking off the cloak, much to the protest (or, more like indigent squeak) of Peter. "Nobody's out anyways, and it's easier to grab them like this. _Oh, don't freak._ "

It only took a minute to grab all of the ingredients, and their arms were full as they closed the door of the storage closet behind them. The lanterns had been switched off, so they were in almost pitch darkness. James wondered how the time could have passed quickly, curfew must have just arrived. Giving a sigh, he managed to pull his wand out from under his robes. He shook it, slightly, and waved the end. _"Lumos."_

Immediately, the corridor was enveloped in a warm, golden light. There was nothing, no shadows or figures standing in corners as James had expected. It was funny how strangely normal the castle looked after lights-out. Sometimes James pictured it becoming a whole new place, where secret passageways would suddenly grow illuminated arrows with signs that said 'LOOK HERE' and where the suits of armour would actually be walking, instead of just creepily turning their heads to look at students as they made their way between classes. But it wasn't. This was just the same place that James lined up with the rest of his potions class before their Monday and Wednesday lessons.  
"See," he announced, standing up a little bit straighter. "There's absolutely nothing-"  
"What are you boys doing here?"

James felt his blood run cold, and he was frozen to the spot, unable to move as if he had been petrified. He could hear Sirius' slight gasp at the voice too, and though he knew who the voice belonged to, James didn't want to turn around.

It turned out he didn't have to. The footsteps behind him circled around him until James found himself eye to eye with the figure. There, holding out his wand, a scowl covering his face, was a very annoyed, very frightening, Professor Andre.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys. Sorry for the slightly late chapter, I actually have had a lot of free days recently- school was cancelled twice because of the horrible air quality in Malaysia, but on those days we were literally bombarded with work from all the classes I was missing, and I had to stay back to catch up on my Media Studies and Drama coursework, so I've had a bit of a busy week. I hardly had any time to plan this chapter out, I had to do that in Physics, to the horror of my teacher (whom I hate, he's literally a real life Professor Snape, no joke) and the detriment of my work, but whatever, I hate that class anyways.  
I'm gonna try to get a couple chapters down next week, considering I'm not sure how much time I'll have to even work on this fic when November hits. Nonetheless, I'll have at least four chapters queued for the month so the updates won't suffer. The plot of the story, or at least the plot I have planned, starts to kick in next chapter ish- the whole thing with Andre becomes a big thing which the characters try to figure out, and a new event will lead to a bunch more characters being introduced. You'll see ~**

James stood rooted to the spot, unable to create even a coherent sound as his vocal chords seemed to have tightened, almost as if he'd been petrified. Next to him, he could feel his friends do the same, out of the corner of his eye spotting Peter's panicked eyes darting back and forwards between the potions storage cupboard and the dark, furrowed brows of their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.  
"What are you doing?" Professor Andre repeated, lowering his wand slightly so that the boys could see his dark face. "Don't you know it's nearly curfew?"  
"I- erm, that is to say… yes?" Sirius stammered lamely, his knuckles white as he gripped the edges of the large pewter cauldron that the Prewitt twins had told them to take.  
Seeing that his friend was making the situation worse, Remus piped up quickly. "Professor Slughorn asked us if we could take these up to his study, I think he's teaching the fifth years something…"

Andre frowned slightly, as if examining their facial expressions to see if they were lying. It was only for a brief moment, but the James it felt like an eternity under his scrutinizing gaze. Then, he dropped his wand even lower, honestly it wasn't even a threat, he'd just used it to create light, and did something very, very unexpected.  
He chuckled.  
At that James whipped around, he couldn't help himself, and looked at Sirius, who was standing behind him, in confusion. What on earth was he doing, laughing like that? Any teacher in their right mind would be able to see that they were lying their teeth out, so why wasn't he doing anything? _He's bonkers,_ Sirius' look seemed to say.

"And I suppose that Professor Slughorn would agree with you, even when I saw him in the staff room mere moments ago?" Andre's voice was a little mocking, not with a harsh edge, but more like a teacher sarcastically questioning his students, which was exactly what he was doing. James felt relieved, _he wasn't going to do anything bad to them. Maybe a detention, but he wasn't going to hex them.  
_ Remus looked mortified. "Maybe…." he stammered, unable to look at Andre in the eyes.  
Then it happened again, he smiled. This time though, there was no edge to it at all, in fact just a genuine smile with perhaps a little mischief in it.

"The Halloween feast is tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken?" he asked, his eyes twinkling. "It would be a good opportunity for a prank of some sort, correct?"  
James frowned. "Yes… sir?"  
"And if I am not mistaken, there have been quite a few reports of Slytherin students treating the Gryffindor first years quite unfairly?"  
"Yes?" James wasn't sure what he was getting at, but for some reason he didn't feel like Andre was going to punish them. In fact, it seemed as if he was on the same wavelength as the four boys.  
Andre gave a small grin. "And none of these students have been punished, even though their behaviour has been absolutely atrocious?"  
"No, sir."  
There was a pause. "Very well then. I suppose that you just ran late and it was not intentional for you to break curfew. Please, head quickly to Professor Slughorn's room and proceed back to the dormitory immediately. I would not like you to be too tired to miss out on tomorrow's… festivities." James could have sworn that he saw Professor Andre wink.  
"Y-yeah!" Peter spoke up this time, his voice slightly high and hopeful and James wanted to turn and frown at him. If his lying skills were _that_ bad, there was no way that they would ever be able to play another prank again.  
"Very well." Andre turned around. "Good night." He said, walking away with his cloak billowing behind him. As he passed James, he could have sworn he heard their professor murmur 'get them good'. Then, he was gone.

There was a few moments of silence before a loud guffaw burst through, coming from Sirius, who still look shocked, albeit pleasantly surprised. Remus quickly joined him, though he sound a bit more disbelieving. Soon James and Peter had joined them, and the four boys were practically hysterical by the time James had grabbed the cloak and pulled it over their heads.  
"I thought we were going to get hexed!" Peter said as they made their way back up the stairs to their common room. "Who knew Andre was such a good sport?"  
James shrugged. "What I want to know is why he had such a quick personality change. He was practically threatening us a week ago, and now he's almost an accessory in our crime."  
There was a moment of silence until Remus spoke up. "Maybe…" he paused, as if deliberating what he had to say. "Maybe we've just been overthinking things. I mean, we were kind of shocked when we heard him and maybe we've been making the small things he does turn into much bigger things by looking guilty."  
"Yeah, but that doesn't explain how he knows about the cloak." Sirius said.

James paused, thinking about it. Yes, apart from that one lesson, Andre hadn't been any different. He was picking on them more, but perhaps that was purely just his teaching methods. Plus, there was one thing about the cloak.  
"My dad used to work at the ministry, so maybe they know one another." James began. "Maybe he told Professor Andre that I stole his cloak, then it would make sense that he was taunting me about it. If that's true, you might be right, Remus."  
The boy looked triumphant, and Sirius nodded, accepting the explanation. Peter, however, had another thing on his mind.  
"Your dad _used_ to work at the ministry? What happened?"  
James ducked his head. The truth wasn't a big deal, just a little ironic and he knew Sirius would have a field day if he found out the truth. "He invented something, no biggie, and he dropped out of his job."  
"Oh. What did he invent?"

Fortunately for James, he didn't have a chance to reply, as they had made their way up to the portrait hole and the Fat Lady was scowling at them.  
"Out and about at this time of night? I ought to tell a teacher, you know."  
"Don't." James said, standing in front of the other three, even though they were still under the cloak. They were hiding with all the ingredients for their prank, while James would open the door for them.  
"I just forgot the time, is all. Please let me in."  
"Hmph." The Fat Lady looked him up and down. "Fine. Password?"  
A grin erupted on James' face. "Nettle." He said, and with a reluctant sigh, the painted woman's portrait swung open a crack and James slowly made his way in, making sure to let the other three pass before him.

For a Friday evening, the common room was oddly quiet, only a few older students scattered around in plush armchairs by the fire, working on essays and playing games of wizard chess and exploding snap. Lily Evans, whose fiery head James had come to notice instinctively, was bent over in one of the chairs by the window with Mary MacDonald, both of them with steaming cups of tea sitting by them. Perhaps they were working on their Charms homework, it was due in the following Monday (actually that reminded James of the fact that he still needed to do his homework), or perhaps revising for their unit test in Transfiguration. However, James' gaze was quickly snapped away by the sight of the Prewitt twins who were making their way to James, and by default the other three, with knowing looks on their face. James had come to distinguish the two, Gideon had slightly shorter hair than Fabian's, which was a slightly browner shade then his brother's red. They had told them that they had done it on purpose, and that they had really no idea how Muggle hair dye worked so Fabian had to walk around with a full head of brown hair for the whole of third year. It was only just beginning to fade. Apart from that, however, the boys looked fully identical; tall and lanky with slightly pointed noses, wide hazel eyes and eyebrows that shot up so they looked perpetually excited.  
"Oh, James, we'd like to show you something, if you don't mind coming with us." Gideon didn't speak loudly, but enough so that anyone who overheard would not be suspicious. Well, anything the Prewitt twins did was _mildly_ suspicious, but James didn't think of it as anything atrocious. Arm in arm, they begun to march James up, not to their own dormitory, but James'. Judging from the creak behind him as they clambered up the stairs, James knew that his friends were following, still under the cloak.

"Did you get it?" Fabian asked when they were secure in the boy's dormitory, not bothering to drop his voice. To answer his question, Sirius tore off the cloak and flashed them a grin, all three of them with bundles of ingredients in their arms. "Great!"  
James let out a huge sigh and flopped himself on Peter's bed, much to the protest of the boy, who had gone to sit on it as well. "Nearly got caught by Andre, though."  
"Nearly?" Sirius frowned. "We _did_ get caught by him!"  
At that the twins looked up from where they were organizing the ingredients in shock. "Oh man." Fabian said, his forehead creasing into a frown. "How'd you get away?"  
"We didn't."  
" _You didn't._ "  
Sirius seemed to be very happy to relay the news. "He caught us, arms full of stuff coming out of the cupboard with all this stuff and we nearly had a heart attack, you should have seen Peter's face. Anyways, he asked us what we were doing and Remus came up with an awful lie-"  
"Hey, you were too busy gawping at him to even _try._ "  
"-yeah but it still sucked- anyways and so he definitely knew we were up to something. I swore we were going to get detention but it turned out he was a good sport about it. He didn't _say_ that he approved of our prank, but he definitely hinted at it and said he was going to turn a blind eye. Pretty cool, huh?"

Gideon gawped at him. "No way. He's so much cooler than we thought he was."  
"Yeah, he's super serious in class- like we're gonna enter a war or something and he's training us. Maybe he had some sort of feud with the Slytherins when he was at school, or something."

James shrugged. "Dunno. Anyways, we have one person awaiting our mastery. Might as well get a head start."  
Gideon grinned. "Sounds good to me."

It took a good forty minutes for the potion to brew, and according to the twins it needed to simmer overnight. _"We'll come and collect it in the morning so that we can take it to the kitchens."_ Fabian had told them, before he and his brother headed upstairs to do whatever they wanted to do.  
Now the four were sitting down in the mostly empty common room. It was only them and a dozing seventh year who was sitting on the other side of the room, so they didn't feel the need to keep their voices down. The air was cold, even though they were near the fire, and in their hands they each held a cup of steaming hot chocolate which had appeared on the table as they sat down. Autumn had arrived late that year, but the weather was steadily getting colder, and even though the castle was nowhere near freezing, at night James often wished that he could go and sleep in the chair he was sitting in, closer to the crackling fire.  
"Wonder how long it'll last." Peter said, obviously still thinking about the effect of the potion they had just brewed.  
"When my dad makes his potions he usually adds double the spearmint for two hours, so I'm guessing about an hour." James said, rather quickly and without thinking. He quickly realized his mistake from the confused gazes his friends were giving him.  
"Your dad makes _potions._ But you're awful!" Sirius sniggered, causing James to roll his eyes at him, feeling rather stupid.  
"Yeah, he made some hair potions a while ago. It's kind of dumb, he works in St Mungo's now where he does remedies and stuff, which is a bit cooler."  
Sirius and Peter nodded, but Remus looked thoughtful. "Potter…" he murmured under his breath, before letting out a bark of laughter.  
"What?" James said, frowning at his friend, but Remus was shaking his head in laughter.  
"That's _great._ Oh my god."  
"No, don't tell them. It's stupid."  
"James' dad, Fleamont Potter- _Fleamont,_ makes potions to keep hair neat and tidy. While his son," he waved his hand at James. "Has the most outrageously messy hair I've ever seen on anyone ever."

"Hey!" James cried indignantly as the other two began to laugh. "I'm sure _some_ girls like messy hair."  
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Sure. By the way, are you still pining over Little Miss Evans, because you know that's never going to happen, right?"  
James threw a pillow at him. "It will happen, sooner or later. Just you wait, my charm works on nearly _everyone,_ she'll be head over heels in no time. Anyways, you should speak for yourself Sirius. Any girls you fancy?"  
Sirius flushed a deep red and shook his head. "I've told you, I don't like any _girl."_  
"Sure." James shook his head. "How about you two? Tell me all your deepest darkest secrets."  
Remus laughed and shook his head, but Peter went a bright pink.  
" _Hmm._ Is Pete hiding a secret?" Sirius teased, happy the attention wasn't on him anymore. "Please tell."  
"Fine." Peter's voice was low. "Dorcas Medowes."  
James burst into laugher at that, much to the irritation of Peter. Dorcas was a 4th year Gryffindor who was very loud and very rowdy. She seemed to be close friends with the Prewitt twins and was fairly pretty, short brown hair and grey eyes. She was one of those people who was popular, smart and would never _ever_ look at anyone younger than her.  
"Looks like you're in the same boat as James, Peter. Hopeless." Remus teased, taking a sip from his cup. James rolled his eyes good naturedly.  
"Oh yeah, like any girl would like _someone like you._ "  
Remus' face fell.  
"Oh, shucks, no! I meant it as a joke. Sure you're a bit of a stick in the mud, but you're fine!"  
"Sure." His voice was slightly strained but he seemed to recover quickly. "Well I'd rather be a stick in the mud than a pompous twat."  
"Oi, that's my second insult tonight! Someone be cruel to Sirius, he hasn't been insulted yet!"  
"Of course not, I'm perfect!"

It was a while before they finished talking and taunting one another, their laughs waking up the dozing seventh year boy, who gave them a cold stare before heading upstairs to his dormitory.  
"Alrighty boys," James started, once he realized that the clock by the fireplace had struck 11pm. "Might as well head upstairs, we need to be all refreshed for the big day tomorrow."  
In agreeance, they began to march up the creaky staircase, all of their minds wandering to the prospect of the next day. To James, it was an opportunity. Maybe Lily would find it funny, he hoped. Maybe she'd talk to them.  
 _Then the others wouldn't say I'm hopeless,_ he thought to himself as he slipped into bed. _She'll like me, I'm sure of it._


End file.
